Taiwan's Chen raps US over pressure to scrap referendum (Roundup)

Aug 21, 2007, 15:47 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday struck back at the United States for trying to get him to give up a plan to hold a referendum on UN membership for his island as Chen departed for a summit with Central American leaders.

'Although someone had suggested I drop a planned referendum on joining the United Nations in the name of Taiwan in exchange for better transit treatment from the United States, (I) do not think this could be done because the two issues are unrelated,' Chen said.

He made the comment at Taiwan's international airport before boarding a plane to transit through the US state of Alaska on his way to Honduras, one of Taiwan's 24 diplomatic allies.

Chen is allowed a 50-minute refuelling stop in Alaska en route to Honduras, where he was scheduled to attend a Central American leaders summit, presidential officials said.

Such a brief stopover came in contrast to his previous transiting stops in the United States when he was allowed to stay for up to three days in major US cities, including New York and Los Angeles.

Upon his arrival in Alaska, he remained on board and refused to step out of the plane, state media reported, quoting parliamentarian Tang Bi-erh who followed the president on the visit.

'President Chen did that to protest against such a treatment from the US side,' she was quoted by Central News Agency as saying.

She said Chen even wore a sticker on his shirt with a logo of the island seeking to join the United Nations under the Taiwan title while meeting two US officials sent to greet him on board the plane.

Chen's trip came as he was pushing for a referendum on UN membership for Taiwan, which China opposes because it sees Taiwan as part of China. Chen's plan has encountered opposition from US President George W Bush's administration, which is concerned such a vote would escalate tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

China, a bitter rival of Taiwan since the two split at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, has threatened to attack the island if it tries to make any moves to officially split from the mainland.

Beijing, which still regards the island as a Chinese territory with no sovereignty or statehood, has feared that the UN membership vote would be the first step toward a referendum on Taiwan declaring formal independence from China.

Chen said Tuesday that he did not want the US transit issue to shift the focus of his Central American trip.

The island's leader has said he is willing to face repercussions from the United States to uphold his referendum, which he stressed is a basic human right and a show of democracy, which Washington has steadfastly vowed to protect.

Taiwan and the United States do not have official relations, but Washington has remained an informal ally and Taiwan's biggest arms supplier.

Chen was scheduled to arrive in Honduras Tuesday for a three-day visit. He was expected to give 5 million US dollars in aid to Honduras for a national computerization project, Taiwan Foreign Affairs Ministry officials said.

He plans to attend a summit Thursday in Tegucigalpa before travelling to El Salvador and Nicaragua, two more Taiwan allies, which diplomatically recognize the island, not China.

Chen was scheduled to return to Taiwan on August 29, also by way of Alaska, where he is have another 50-minute refuelling stop.